Why more than 150 years later, Hamilton's Nine Hour Movement still matters — On May 15, 1872, 1,500 workers marched in Hamilton, demanding the workday be reduced to nine hours. Though the movement ultimately failed, it paved the way for laws that protect workers today.
At the time, Hamilton was coming into its "heyday" as an industrial city, according to Stephanie Ross, a professor in the School of Labour Studies at McMaster University.
The workday the movement was aiming to reduce was typically 10 to 12 hours at the time, six days a week, according to Ross.
"You can imagine, it was exhausting," she said in an interview ahead of Labour Day.
It became a big issue for Canadian workers of the day, who believed that they should have "time for themselves." A relatively normal belief now, but not a concept factory owners — who, Ross said, saw workers as a means of production — supported back then.
Hamilton workers played a big part in the movement, mostly centred around railway yards, where workers in different crafts worked together and shared ideas about the kind of workplace they wanted.
Workers in Toronto's printers union and Montreal's rail yards were also having similar conversations at the time and — realizing all employers would have to reduce work hours in order for the movement to succeed — joined forces.
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In addition to the 1,500 workers who marched in Hamilton, Ross said a lot of people lined the street to support the demand. It became, virtually, a general strike in Hamilton, involving all the craftspeople in the city.
"The nine-hour workday was a safety measure … to give people's bodies time to relax and to spend more time with their family," said Frank Crowder, president of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7135.
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Crowder is one of the 1,200 workers on strike at National Steel Car in Hamilton, asking for higher wages and for the union to have a say in a "dangerous" incentive program.
He said workers at National Steel Car want the same thing workers in the Nine Hour Movement wanted at the time: more time to rest and spend with their families.
Workers at the company have an incentive program that allows them to take lower pay and get paid an extra 25 per cent of their wages if they make enough product.
Recently, production levels have been set too high for workers to achieve, Crowder said. The union has no say in the program, as per their collective agreement.